Creationism

Category archives for Creationism

Chris Mooney is encouraging people to read the longer paper on which his Washington Post op-ed piece was based (some of my thoughts on the op-ed are here). So I did. My short take: there’s some good, mixed in with some bad. I’ll behave unusually and describe the good first.

You might have heard by now about the True Republican PAC television ad for the Republican gubernatorial primary in Alabama that attacks one Republican candidate, Bradley Byrne, for supporting evolution (TEH DARWINISMZ! AIIEEE!!!). As far as I can tell Byrne is a ‘moderate’ in that he thinks both evolution and creationism should be taught (‘teaching…

It’s the willful ignorance: No, tea baggers believe stupid shit because they want to. It’s willful ignorance. They spin outrageous theories because they know that the naked truth about what they believe would make them look like giant bigots and big meanies. So, instead of saying, “I don’t want health care reform because I like…

While I’m away, here’s something from the depths of the Mad Biologist’s Archives: By way of ScienceBlogling Razib, I came across this Reason article by Ronald Bailey summarizing the presidential candidates views’ on evolution. Bailey highlights two reasons what lack of support for evolution says about a candidate: The candidate probably is weak on the…

It would appear that the Coalition of the Sane is beginning to reassert itself–if only by a one percent margin (italics mine): The surprising result of the night came from the State Board of Education District 9 Republican primary, as Thomas Ratliff defeated incumbent and former SBOE Chairman Don McLeroy. This particular campaign actually received…

Before I start, let me say that I have no personal animus towards Chris Mooney: my limited interactions with him have been civil, and I agree with him on many things. But this beating up the victim has to stop. Sure, I agree with Mooney that many scientists need to learn how to communicate with…

David Sirota was debating (although given that said ‘debate’ occurred on cable TV, that’s probably far too genteel a word) David Frum about healthcare, when Sirota brought up the finding that 45,000 people in the U.S. die every year from a lack of health insurance. Frum’s response is incredibly arrogant (go to the 4:00 mark):…

Richard Cohen recently wrote that he would like to see an “Institute for the Study of Sarah Palin” receive funding. It’s a pretty good piece (which just goes to show that even the dumbest squirrel can occasionally find a nut). But I do have one quibble. Cohen writes (italics mine): On the other hand, someone…

I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again: everything you need to know about movement conservatives, you can learn by watching creationists (and admittedly, there’s substantial overlap between the two groups). Think about creationists, and then consider this column by Neal Gabler: In their postmortems, liberals have placed blame on the way they frame…